WIMBLEDON, England — On the first point of the women’s final at Wimbledon on Saturday, Angelique Kerber ended a rally with a forehand winner down the line.

On the next, a Serena Williams backhand winner scorched the baseline.

Yes, it was going to be one of those matches. But in contrast with the outcome of their duel in the Australian Open final in January, Williams came out as the winner.

Williams tied Steffi Graf’s Open-era record for Grand Slam singles titles, gaining her 22nd with a 7-5, 6-3 victory. The win left her two short of Margaret Court’s overall record of 24 Grand Slam titles from 1960 to 1973. The Open era began in 1968.

Williams, 34, had not won a major championship since last year’s Wimbledon, losing in the semifinals at the 2015 United States Open and the finals at the Australian and French Opens this year.

Although she had tried to play down the importance of No. 22, she acknowledged that it was a “relief” to get there, and that there had been “some sleepless nights” after her recent Grand Slam losses.

During the Wimbledon fortnight, she talked about having a different mind-set, about being calmer. From her losses at the Australian and French Opens, she said, she had “learned that you can’t win everything, even though I try really hard.”

“I do the best that I can,” she said. “I still am not going to be perfect.”

She was pretty close to it on Saturday. Kerber, the No. 4 seed, who will ascend to No. 2 in the world rankings on Monday, entered the final having not lost a set at Wimbledon. But Williams had also been rolling through the draw since losing the first set of her second-round match against Christina McHale.

Chris Evert, an 18-time Grand Slam singles champion and now an analyst for ESPN, said earlier in the week that Williams was playing “as good as I’ve seen her play in the last year.”

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Angelique Kerber, the No. 4 seed who will ascend to No. 2 on Monday, entered the final having not lost a set at Wimbledon.CreditJustin Tallis/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

“Less ups and downs, no drama, no dips,” Evert said.

As usual, Williams’s serve paved the way to the title. With windy conditions on Centre Court, she said, “it would be better if I served great.”

“Great” may not be a strong enough term: Williams hit 13 aces, lost only five points on her first serve and faced just one break point. Forty-three percent of her serves went unreturned.

“Serena was serving unbelievable today,” Kerber said. “At the end, I was trying everything, but she deserved it today.”

Though she was frustrated during Williams’s service games, Kerber stayed in the match, playing sound defense and using the same fearless shot-making that won her the title in Australia.

Kerber survived a nervous first service game, saving three break points, but she could not gain any traction on Williams’s serve until 3-3 in the first set.

After Williams won a 21-shot rally to go up, 40-15, Kerber won the next point on a forehand winner and forced an error by Williams to get to deuce. But she would get no closer to breaking Williams’s serve in the set.

With Williams serving at 5-5, the set turned. Williams, down by 15-30, unleashed three unreturnable serves to win the game.

She quickly got two break points in the next game, taking the game and the set on the second.

“I played two points a little bit too short, and she was there, and she goes for it,” Kerber said. “So, yeah, I mean, she did everything right.”

Kerber did not back down, however. She hit a backhand winner from off the court to end a 15-shot rally early in the second set, prompting Williams to applaud.

“I love playing her,” Williams said. “She’s such a great opponent. She really brings out great tennis in me.”

Kerber finally got her first break point of the match at 3-3. Williams then hit two aces to get out of trouble.

“It was her first break point, and I wasn’t going to let it go on the very first one, at least,” Williams said. “I wanted to hit an ace.”

In the next game, Kerber was up, 40-15, but was forced into three straight errors, which gave Williams her only break point of the second set.

Kerber shanked a backhand off Williams’s return, and Williams had a chance to serve for the match.

Kerber could not get the ball in play on the first three serves, and Williams closed out her seventh Wimbledon championship with a forehand winner at the net. She fell to the grass and lay on her back to take in the long-awaited moment.

The last time Williams went a year without a Grand Slam title was in 2014, when she was pursuing her 18th. Then she was not falling short in finals, she was failing to get out of the fourth round. She has now reached the final in seven of the last eight majors.

“I had to start looking at positives, not focusing on that one loss per tournament which really isn’t bad, and for anyone else on this tour would be completely happy about it,” Williams said.

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Serena Williams had a chance to get her 22nd major victory in January at the Australian Open, but Angelique Kerber won that duel. Williams was triumphant on Saturday.CreditBen Curtis/Associated Press

“Once I started focusing more on the positives, I realized that I’m pretty good.”

Williams’s understatement led to laughs among the reporters gathered for her postmatch news conference.

But big-picture thinking, not just in tennis, is often required of Williams, such a big star that she had Jay Z and Beyoncé in her box on Saturday. (Beyoncé was perhaps returning the favor for Williams’s appearance in one of Beyoncé’s music videos this spring.)

After her 48-minute semifinal rout of Elena Vesnina on Thursday, Williams had to defend her dominance to a male reporter who asked whether she deserved to be paid the same as the men who played five-setters the day before.

“If you happen to write a short article, you think you don’t deserve equal pay as your beautiful colleague behind you?” she said.

As a prominent African-American, she was asked about recent police shootings of black men and the killing of police officers in Dallas.

“I do have nephews that I’m thinking, ‘Do I have to call them and tell them don’t go outside?’” she said. “If you get in your car, it might be the last time I see you.”

She added that violence was not the answer. “The shooting in Dallas was very sad,” she said.

These conversations she chose to engage in on Saturday, but she was less interested in debates about her next milestone.

“One thing I learned about last year is to enjoy the moment,” she said.

About five hours later, Williams was laughing and smiling with her sister Venus after they defeated Timea Babos and Yaroslava Shvedova, 6-3, 6-4, for the women’s doubles championship. It was the Williamses’ 14th Grand Slam doubles title together, but their first in four years.

“As long as I’m winning, it doesn’t get boring,” Williams said. “Even when I’m not winning, it doesn’t, because it makes me want to work harder so I can come out and hold up titles.”

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page SP1 of the New York edition with the headline: A Long Wait to Reach a Rare Height. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe